‘What Goes On Behind Closed Doors’ A Guest Post By Jessica Jarlvi

I am pleased to have been on the blog tour invite list for ‘When I Wake Up’ by Jessica Jarlvi. This extensive month long tour is certainly a mammoth undertaking for both Jessica and Yasemin Turan, who represents ‘Aria Digital Publishing‘.

The blog tour banner at the foot of this post will let you know who all the other lucky sites are, so why not stop by and check out a selection of the reviews, interviews and guest posts on offer.

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‘WHENIWAKEUP‘

‘Why won’t Mummy wake up?’

When Anna, a much-loved teacher and mother of two, is left savagely beaten and in a coma, a police investigation is launched. News of the attack sends shock waves through her family and their small Swedish community. Anna seems to have had no enemies, so who wanted her dead?

As loved-ones wait anxiously by her bedside, her husband Erik is determined to get to the bottom of the attack, and soon begins uncovering his wife’s secret life, and a small town riven with desire, betrayal and jealousy.

As the list of suspects grows longer, it soon becomes clear that only one person can reveal the truth, and she’s lying silent in a hospital bed…

Clicking on the book’s cover image will link you directly with it’s Amazon listing.

Check out these explosive opening lines, then tell me that you wouldn’t want to keep reading!

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Hi! I’m JESSICAJARLVI

Born in Sweden, I moved to London at the age of 18 to obtain a BSc Hons degree in Publishing and Business.

I worked in publishing in the UK for a number of years before heading to Chicago, USA, where I edited a magazine for expats. Back in Sweden, I completed a Masters in Creative Writing.

Since 2010, I have taught journalism and media at a local university, and I have spent the last five years as the marketing and PR manager for a British firm.

In 2016, I was one of the winners in the Montegrappa Prize for First Fiction at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature.

I am married with three spirited children, and although I am known for my positivity, my writing tends to be rather dark!

In When I Wake Up, I wanted to explore the choices people make when the going gets tough – what happens behind closed doors? Most marriages are already subjected to the normal pressures of life: mortgage and car payments, having a career, being a good parent while also maintaining a loving relationship with your spouse.

What if one person’s career is viewed as more important – in this case, the woman’s? What if the power balance is tipped? What if life throws you something unexpected and you have to make a choice: will you be the good girl or not? Will you follow your heart or throw yourself off a cliff and learn to fly?

These were all questions that popped up as I was writing the novel. What if? Everyone’s relationship is different and no one really knows what goes on in another marriage, no matter how close you are. That was the driving force behind When I Wake Up.

Anna and Erik have been married for six years and have five-year old twins. Their communication has broken down and they’re less intimate these days; he’s resentful of her job and she feels underappreciated.

A difficult student upends Anna’s life and her caring nature means she sees it as a cry for help instead of what it actually is: obsession. Her husband is not supportive and so she turns to a former passion, literature. Visiting the library in the neighbouring town becomes her refuge and oasis. She befriends the librarian, Iris, who opens up a whole new world to Anna.

I’m fascinated by people’s choices in life and the events that they set in motion, especially when they follow their gut instead of doing what they’re programmed by society to do. I admire people who are brave enough to be who they are, without making excuses. Anna is not one of these people but Iris is. She teaches Anna to follow her heart instead of always doing what’s considered ‘right’, no matter the consequences.

Although the characters in my novel aren’t based on real people, I have been fortunate enough to have travelled and met many interesting men and women along the way.

I have also met many families and when you drill down, you realise that every family has its complications, even if you try and do everything ‘right’. I’m confident that there will be many more of these complex relationships in books to come!

Yvonne

I can’t remember a time, even as a child, when I haven’t been passionate about books and reading.
I began blogging, when I realised just how many other people out there shared my passion for the written word and I have been continually amazed at the wealth of books that are available and the amount of great new friends I have made, from literally 'The Four Corners Of The World'.

Yes! – do check out some of the other stops. Jessica has written several unique guest posts and they have all been just as interesting and perceptive as this particular piece.

I should imagine that it would however, be quite unnerving to spend any length of time in Jessica’s company. I would be forever on edge, thinking that she might be assessing me, or trying to analyse me, for one of her future storylines!

Just joking, she sounds like such a nice person, full of life and energy 🙂